No more sock puppets please

Following my earlier post, it’s great to see so many impressive names damning this kind of behaviour.

The ongoing saga of the dodgy review.

Some months ago, I was moved to write a post about fake reviews. I got quite a stroppy comment from one reader who said s/he was fed up with authors telling readers about fake reviews, and we should trust people to have the common sense to be able to spot the fake reviews. Frankly, I was embarrassed that I may have caused offence, and I took the post down. And now I wish I hadn’t.

In the last few weeks, there have been a endless articles, tweets and blog posts about fake reviews, and whilst I am prepared to accept that the amateur faker can usually be spotted a mile off, I think my previous reader had underestimated the seriousness of the whole sock puppet mentality out there. This is not about people’s family and friends writing one-liners ‘the best book I’ve ever read’, or their worst enemies writing ‘wish I’d saved the money’. This is now a very serious issue.

Review: I Was in Love with a Short Man Once by Kim Dalferes

The Art of Storytelling is Alive and Well…

This ‘Crazy Southern Irish Gal’ has definitely got the ‘gift of the gab’! Having been brought up in Florida during the seventies, she tells us about her life through a wonderful series of colourful characters, mishaps, confessions and events. I found myself completely drawn into her stories from the first page, recalling some of the personalities from my own childhood along the way.

You feel privileged to have been part of her journey down memory lane. Her true gift of storytelling conjures up cleverly selected images from the seventies right through to present day. This book is well written, funny and covers the complete spectrum of topics and challenges we all come across in our daily lives, but we often take their significance or importance for granted. It handles sensitive issues with great openness, honesty and humour and will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside; wanting to reconnect with your past.

In many ways this book is quite cathartic and it will make you think about some of the decisions you have made throughout your own life. It teaches us that sometimes it’s good to stop and recollect the simple things and take stock of who we are and what we have achieved; celebrate the positive, forgive and forget the negative and move on with your life.

So what’s the deal with the title you ask? I won’t spoil it for you, all will be revealed, you will just have to clear your schedule, turn the Blackberry off and buckle up for an extraordinary heartwarmingly funny ride.

5 Stars

Review: Letters to my Mother by Rebecca Heath

A TOUCHING STORY, AND BEAUTIFULLY TOLD

I have to say that I thought this book was wonderful. It is the gentle tale of two people who shouldn’t be together by the normal rules of morality and the times. Kate is a young, extremely bright college student who has never had much time for boys. David is a professor at the college she attends. Brilliant but somewhat aloof, he is trapped in a loveless marriage where nobody – not even his children – can see any worth in him.  But this is Seattle in the 1950s, and nineteen year olds don’t have affairs with married men in their late forties. Nobody would find that acceptable. And yet, these two find a rare love for each other.

Review: The Viper Contract by Chris Broyhill

EXCELLENT STORY WITH FAST PACED ACTION

Overview

The Viper Contract tells the story of an ex US Air  Force fighter pilot, Colin Pearce, who has been forced to take up a career as a contract pilot, ferrying businessmen and the like around. The money’s good, but it doesn’t excite him the way his former profession did.

And then something happens to change all that. He is approached by the CIA to act as an undercover agent in a daring and deadly airstrike which could have disastrous consequences reverberating around the world.

Review : Blood Money by Laura Rizio

A FAST PACED SUSPENSE

Overview

Nick Cerrato is a young lawyer, destined for the top in his field. He is ambitious, and is trying to emulate his mentor Joe Maglio who is renowned for his skills in the courtroom. But then Joe is found dead, and the police believe it to be suicide. This is only the beginning of a sequence of events that exposes murder, treachery and corruption which Nick has to deal with. His choices are difficult; his long desired career against his belief in justice.

Review: Otherwise by Jennifer B White

AN ENGAGING AND INTRIGUING TALE OF THE PARANORMAL

Overview

When 26 year old Delilah returns to the town she was brought up in, she discovers that some things never change. Her old grandmother is now dead, but the ramshackle cottage that she lived in is still full of all the junk that had accumulated over the years, and Delilah despairs of the task ahead of her in clearing the place out to make it habitable.

But strange things begin to happen to her, and gradually she becomes aware that this town has two sorts of inhabitants – the living, and the “otherwise”.  Within the town is one woman – living – who is able to speak to the spirits that are “otherwise”, and gradually during the telling of the story, lies and secrets from the past are revealed culminating in a dramatic and surprising climax.

Review: A Real Piece of Work by Chris Orcutt

A compelling mystery, well written and very entertaining

Overview

You can tell from the naming of his main characters – Dakota Stevens and Svetlana Krüsh – that author Chris Orcutt has a sense of humour, and this is apparent throughout his writing. This book is no comedy – far from it – but Orcutt displays a lightness of touch in dealing with his characters that makes it a joy to read.

The story focuses around ex FBI agent now turned PI Dakota, and his ‘beautiful assistant’ chess world champion Svetlana. They are offered a job to find a missing painting – and paid a substantial amount in advance. When their client goes missing, they have the option of taking the money and doing nothing. But that is not Dakota’s style – and as he begins to investigate what seems like a simple art theft, the plot genuinely does thicken. Dakota and Svetlana piece by piece uncover a much greater crime dating back to decades earlier.

Faith Creation – All Lies Revealed by Christine Dougherty

Overview

It’s important to say at the outset that isn’t a book about religion – which is what I thought when I saw the title. It’s actually about a young girl called Faith, and the first part of the book focuses on her early life with her twin sister Charity, flashing between the present and the past – but beautifully done.

The novel starts with a remarkable opening line: “The first time my sister died, we were three years old” and builds steadily and consistently from this point, creating a sad tale of two young girls brought up in an apparently loveless home. It continues until Faith is in her early twenties.

It has a mixture of styles, from heartbreakingly sad to tense and scary, and Christine Dougherty carries them all off well. In places, her writing is superb and her use of imagery excellent. Although it’s not the usual action thriller style that is my preference in books, I found it totally compelling.

Gray Justice by Alan McDermott

Overview

Gray Justice is the story of a man who has lost everything, all because of the selfish actions of a joy rider. What he cannot tolerate is the fact that this joy rider seems to feel no guilt for his crimes – and, along with a vast number of similar criminals, nothing stops him from re-offending. The sentences handed out are risible, and it would appear that the government is going to do nothing to impose harsher sentences or develop strategies to reduce the number of recidivists. So Tom Gray comes up with an ingenious plan which involves the whole population of the UK, and requires some definite and positive action from the government. What he fails to realise, though, is that one of his clever strategies results in a conclusion that he had never anticipated.